The Haunted House of Class 2-C
by Sgamer82
Summary: The Detective Boys visit their future middle school's cultural festival, but an attempted murder means they'll have to show their stuff before even taking entrance exams. Post-Canon Conan. Started, but not completed in time for, the 6-8k Writing Competition #5: Haunted.
1. The Beika Middle School Culture Festival

Part of My Post-Canon Conan series. Started, but not completed in time for, the 6-8k Writing Competition #5: Haunted. However, it's an idea I truly want to complete.

Special thanks to Addy01 for helping with beta reading.

* * *

 ** _Detective Conan  
_** _The Haunted House of Class 2-C  
_ By  
Sgamer82

"So, I've been thinking, we need to re-brand ourselves."

Three pairs of feet stopped waking and three pairs of eyes turned to look at Genta Kojima as he made this announcement. Two had a look of exasperation in them. The third has a raised eyebrow.

"Re-brand?" Ai asked. "As in our name?"

"Exactly," Genta said.

"But we've been the 'Detective Boys' since we were little," Ayumi replied.

"That's exactly why we need to change," Genta told her. "Do you want to start middle school next year using a name we came up with when we were six?"

The others looked thoughtful at that. Seeing his chance Genta kept going.

"The name hasn't really worked for years, anyway," Genta continued. "Conan's not a member anymore-"

"Hold on-" Ayumi snapped.

"Let me finish!" Genta raised his hands, palm up, as if to ward off Ayumi's sudden anger. "Yeah, okay, Conan's still one of us. But he's not a member of the Detective Boys. Not like he was when he actually _was_ Conan."

That last sentence came out in the whisper they had all developed a habit of adopting when referring to Certain Events. Ayumi still looked unhappy at the comment, but nodded for Genta to continue.

"What I'm getting at is, without Conan, not only is there an even split between girls and boys," he gestured to Ayumi and Ai, then himself and Mitsuhiko, "but our leader is a girl herself." Genta's gesturing hand moved back to Ayumi.

"I don't get to say this very often, but Kojima has a point," Ai said after a moment.

"I have to admit," Mitsuhiko rubbed his chin, "An update to our name might be a good idea. It should reflect that we're more mature now than we used to be."

"Ahem."

"With the exception of Ai-san," Mitsuhiko added.

"Thank you."

"I dunno..." Ayumi said. "We've always been the Detective Boys. It doesn't feel right to change it just like that."

"Well I agree with Kojima," Ai directed a smirk towards Ayumi. "Besides, Ayumi, do you really want your conversation on some future date to include the phrase 'I'm the leader of the Detective Boys'?"

Ayumi suddenly blushed and began adjusting her glasses.

"That... is a very good point."

Three pairs of eyes rolled in unison at the sixth grade girl who had just begun to notice Boys that was their illustrious leader.

"All right," Ayumi eventually conceded. "Maybe you guys have a point. But let's not be hasty with this. If we're going to pick a new name for ourselves it needs to be something we can live with."

"It should still reflect where we came from as well as what we are now," Mitsuhiko nodded.

"It should be something unique, that not just anyone would come to with," Genta said.

"Finally, it should be something gender-neutral." Ayumi shot a glare in Ai's direction. "In case we ever recruit more members," Ai continued without missing a beat. "That way it won't matter if there's more of one or the other."

Ayumi's eyes narrowed at Ai as she tried to work out if that was really Ai's reason; then she sighed.

"In any case, let's think about ideas and we can talk about it later. Maybe even have a formal meeting about it. For now," Ayumi smiled, "we have other business."

Indeed they did, the four of them had a specific goal this chilly November Saturday. They resumed their walking for several more blocks before coming to their destination. There in front of them loomed what, on any other day, would be a school courtyard. Today it was dotted with stalls for food and games with signs promising even more inside.

The Detective Boys, new name pending, had reached the Beika Middle School Cultural Festival.

* * *

Soon after arriving, the foursome were seated in a first year classroom doing a café, examining brochures made by the journalism club and making plans.

"The literature club has a neat sounding presentation going on in the library," Ayumi said as she took a sip of tea. "Mostly Japanese authors, so not a lot of Holmes."

"Good," Ai said. "I get more Holmes than I can take at home."

"I definitely want to see the science club room," Mitsuhiko said to the shock of nobody. "They're doing a general science fair to show off experiments."

"How about you, Genta-kun?" Ayumi asked.

"Hmm," Genta started at the brochure's schedule of events. "Nothing really catching my eye until the drama club show in a couple hours. I'll probably just look around until then."

"You're welcome to join us," Ayumi said. Ai nodded.

"Or me," Mitsuhiko offered.

Genta declined both offers and, once everyone was done, went off to explore. Mitsuhiko took his leave soon after, leaving the girls to find their way to the school library. It was a larger than their school's library, and scattered around were dioramas for various authors. The girls each homed in on authors they knew or genres they preferred.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, they were perusing the mystery section when they were approached.

"Excuse me, but are you Ayumi Yoshida-san?"

Ayumi turned to answer the person who spoke and immediately froze. In front of Ayumi was a boy. He wore the sweater vest and necktie and marked him a student of the school. The necktie shared the green color she had seen among the boys in the first year classroom's cafe. These details were noted by the part of Ayumi trained to keep up a level of rational thought in almost any situation. The rest of Ayumi, which consisted of twelve year-old girl, was too busy staring into the tall boy's dark brown eyes and blushing.

"Yes," Ayumi replied. "Yes I am."

Ayumi managed not to stutter, but was certain she heard her voice crack and raise an octave somewhere in that short response. The boy, now that he was actually face to face, began fidgeting in place.

"My... um... my name is Jouburou Tsuyoi" he said, offering a bow. "I'm a first year and member of the school's literature club."

"Nice to meet you, Jouburou-kun," Ayumi said, then mentally kicked herself and bowed. "I-I'm sorry. I should say Tsuyoi-senpai."

"Not at all- I mean, don't be. Sorry that is," Jouburou replied. "First name is perfectly fine."

Out of the corner of her eye, Ayumi noticed Ai grinning at the display before her.

 _She is going to give me_ so _much grief over this..._ Ayumi's rational side thought.

"I'm Ayumi Yoshida, leader of the Detective Boys." Ayumi's face went somehow redder. "But you said my name so you know that already." Ayumi gestured to Ai. "This is my friend Ai Ku-"

"Ai Kudo, yes." Jouburou nodded eagerly. "Shinichi Kudo's little sister."

Ai gave Jouburou a courteous bow. Once upon a time, Ayumi knew, Ai would have felt odd being referred to as "Shinichi Kudo's little sister." However, those days when Ai felt awkward about her adoption into the Kudo family were long past. Plus, as Ai was fond of noting, it was technically more accurate than "younger sister."

"A fan of the Detective Boys?" Ai asked. She smirked. "Or just the girls among them?"

Ai's barb left Jouburou blushing furiously and assuring them he was eager to meet all of them, including Genta and Mitsuhiko. Ayumi threw a glare in Ai's direction, which had no effect. The conversation continued in a similar vein, Ayumi and Jouburou making flustered comments to one another while Ai did nothing to help. The conversation concluded with the girls taking their leave and a promise by Ayumi to consider joining the literature club next spring. Once clear of the library Ayumi's head and shoulders slumped.

"All right, how badly did I embarrass myself...?" Ayumi asked.

"I would say only about half as much as you think you did," Ai told her. Ayumi groaned. "Oh, relax. He was just as bad as you were."

"Really?" Ayumi asked.

"Oh, yes." Ai smirked. "The only one who probably didn't notice how awkward he acted was you. He said he was interested in all of us, but did you notice he mainly talked about when you and Onii-chan faced Kid together? Or that hotel murder you got credit for solving last year?"

"You're messing with me." Ayumi adjusted her glasses with both hands.

"A little," Ai admitted. "That doesn't change what I said being true. You'll realize that yourself eventually."

A buzz from Ai's pants pocket prompted her to stop and pull out her phone. Ayumi stopped and pulled her own phone out of her bag. It was a message from Genta to them and Mitsuhiko asking them to come to one of the second year classrooms. More accurately, it said "You guys gotta see the haunted house at 2-C!"

The girls looked at each other and shrugged. It wasn't as if they had anything else to do now that Ayumi had made a fool of herself at the library. They made their way to the school's second floor and found the classroom in question. The classroom doors were each adorned with a black curtain. Sitting outside one door was a pair of students wearing monster makeup who looked more frightened than frightening as they looked up at a stern looking old man in a fine suit.

"There have been no problems?" The man crossed his arms and looked down at the students with a wrinkled glare.

"No, Sensei," said a girl in the white robes and triangle headpiece meant to mark her as a ghost.

"She hasn't been here?" The way the man said "she" made it sound like he wanted to spit the word rather than say it.

"If... If you mean Chouno-sensei, she did..." The murder victim next to the ghost gulped. "She did make a trip through earlier."

"Very well, I'm going to do my inspection, now."

Without waiting for a reply the man strode past the curtain and into the classroom haunted house. The bloody murder victim and ghost both breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's their homeroom teacher," said a voice beside Ayumi and Ai. The girls turned and saw Genta had seen them and come up beside them while they watched the scene unfold.

"His name's Kaniguchi-sensei. He's apparently real strict," Genta told them. "You know the type."

"Fussy about every little detail, won't settle for anything less than perfection from his students?" Ayumi asked.

"The kind of teacher who would hate me," added Ai, who never got test scores above or below the eighties.

"And longs for the days boys wore buzzcuts and girls forgoed makeup, yeah." Genta nodded. "Where's Mitsuhiko?"

"Probably still with the other future scientists," said Ai the ex-scientist. "Thousand yen says he didn't even notice your message."

"No bet," Ayumi and Genta said together, grinning. All three of them knew Mitsuhiko would probably be absorbed with them for some time yet.

"Guess it's just the two of us, then," Genta said to Ayumi.

"There's three of us." Ayumi nodded her head toward Ai, who had found a bench to sit down on and had begun playing a game on her phone.

"We both know Kudo's not going through that curtain," Genta noted.

"He's right," Ai said without looking up. She offered Genta a thumbs up. "You are on a roll today, Kojima."

"You should still ask. There's such a thing as proper manners," Ayumi told them.

"The Kudos are not a family given to worrying overmuch about something as mundane as propriety," Ai replied. "After nearly five years in their care, any sense of it I ever had is long gone." Ai waved the hand not holding her phone. "I'll be fine. Go have fun."

"All right..." Ayumi said, conceding the point. Genta went into the haunted house, Ayumi right behind.

* * *

The pair walked through the haunted house of 2-C. More black curtains has been used to create a winding path decorated with pictures of various youkai and western monsters mixed together. At least Ayumi had thought they were all pictures. Someone in this class was clearly either an artist, a very good costume designer, or both. Mixed in with the decorations were students in costumes. Between the darkness and the students' own determination to scare the pants off people, Ayumi could never quite determine which was which until someone moved.

So far, Ayumi had only just barely choked down a scream when what she thought was a painting of a western vampire raised his arms and hissed at her. Genta, having gone through at least once already, took it in stride but even he jumped a bit at the vampire.

"A bit more subdued than last time," Genta whispered.

"Seriously?" Ayumi asked. "I almost scream at the first corner and _that_ was subdued?"

"Yeah," Genta confirmed. "My first time through he actually bent down like he was gonna take a bite outta me. Maybe they're just nicer to girls?"

"Or maybe th-YA-umph-" Ayumi clamped her mouth shut tight to stifle a shout as an oni "painting" raised its club at her. Breathing slightly faster, Ayumi continued. "Or maybe they had to tone it down because of their teacher."

"Probably," Genta said. "Still, the crying voice is new. Maybe the guy's not all bad if he let them add it."

Ayumi listened. There had been spooky sounds from the moment they had walked in. She only now noticed the one Genta referred to. It did indeed sound like crying. A girl's crying.

"I think there are words in there," Ayumi said. Genta cupped his hands over his ears and listened.

"I think you're right." Genta concentrated to try and make them out. "Sounds like a girl. 'I'm sorry, Mom. I'm so sorry I can't do it, anymore.' Creepy."

He says it like he admires them, Ayumi thought. Then another sound penetrated Ayumi's thoughts.

"Genta-kun," Ayumi whispered. "Do you hear something else? Like a gurgling or choking sound?"

Genta, hands still over his ears, listened again.

"I do. Something's... off, I dunno what."

"I know what you mean," Ayumi said. "It's hard to tell it's there over the other sounds and stuff. You'd think they'd make it easier to notice."

Ayumi and Genta stopped in their tracks as instincts trained and honed since they were six years old began to kick in. With barely a glance at each other, they charged through the haunted house, paying no mind to the Bride of Frankenstein as she tried to claim Genta as hers.

They passed two corners and came to where the choking noise was loudest, but there was no one to be seen. Ayumi noticed the crying girl's voice was also louder. Ayumi was puzzled about where the sounds were coming from for only a moment better remembering the walls around them weren't actually walls. She grabbed the black curtain closest to where it seemed the sound was coming from and pulled.

"Hey, what're you-" a costumed student cried.

The student's cry was cut off as sunlight poured into the darkened room. Everyone averted their eyes until they adjusted. Before Ayumi's vision cleared she heard someone scream. When she could finally see, Ayumi gasped.

In front of her was a man hanging from a makeshift gallows, grasping desperately at the noose around his neck.

It was Kaniguchi, class 2-C's homeroom teacher.


	2. The Investigation Opens

**_Detective Conan  
_** ** _The Haunted House of Class 2-C  
_** _Chapter Two  
_ by  
sgamer82

In a second floor classroom, a third year student was giving a lecture to anybody who would listen about the discoveries of Newton. His voice was dry, his tone was nonexistent, and he spoke as if every person in the room already knew the scientific terms he was using liberally.

Mitsuhiko Tsubaraya was having the time of his life.

As much as Mitsuhiko loved his friends, attempts to talk science with any of them were exercises in futility. Ayumi tried, but she didn't have Mitsuhiko's aptitude for the subject and often got left behind the more he got into a particular topic or theory. In Genta's case, Mitsuhiko generally had to explain every little thing, which grew frustrating quickly. Ai could hold a conversation with ease, even outside her own areas of expertise, but her desire to cast off as much of her old life as possible meant she never did more than occasionally indulge Mitsuhiko. None of them had the passion Mitsuhiko did, which made it all the sweeter to meet like minded students who loved science in all its forms as much as he did.

 _I wonder if this is how Conan-kun feels when he meets other Holmes fans,_ Mitsuhiko thought.

Mitsuhiko's pleasure came to a halt as a song interrupted the lecture. A song that came from his own pocket.

"Is that the _Kamen Yaiba_ theme song?" someone whispered.

In the back of his mind, Mitsuhiko wondered if he could convince the others to change their ringtone along with their name. Despite that, Mitsuhiko felt no embarrassment at having his favorite show's song as a ringtone.

There was only one reason that ringtone was used.

Mitsuhiko stood up, bowed his apologies as he explained he had to take care of something urgent, and left the room. He hoped he would have time to come back before the day was over, and that he hadn't just made a terrible impression with the club he hoped to join when he started attending, but there was no helping that.

Mitsuhiko was already on the second floor so finding the second year classroom Ayumi's message indicated was a simple matter. There was a small crowd around, but none of the urgency Mitsuhiko so frequently saw when a crime has just occurred.

Soon after Mitsuhiko arrived, a stretcher emerged from the black curtain over the door. Mitsuhiko's eyes widened. He had seen plenty of people carried off after injury or death. This, however, was the first time he had seen a stretcher carried on one end by the spirit of Death itself.

"It's a haunted house," a girl's voice said from behind him. Mitsuhiko jumped, turned around to find Ai.

"That explains the shinigami," Mitsuhiko muttered. "Where are Ayumi-chan and Genta-kun?"

"Still inside," Ai answered. "Kojima is shooing people out of the room and Ayumi wants you to join her to look at the crime scene."

"What actually happened?" Mitsuhiko asked.

"I'm not entirely sure myself, but it looks like Ayumi and Kojima prevented someone being murdered. You'll probably get details from Ayumi."

"All right. Are you coming, Ai-san?"

"No," Ai said, almost before Mitsuhiko had finished speaking. Mitsuhiko looked at the door, saw the black curtain, and understood. Ai shook herself and reached into her bag. She passed Mitsuhiko a small, old fashioned instant camera then pulled out her own phone.

"I'm watching the door and keeping track of anyone who leaves so we can work out a pool of suspects. I sent a message to Kojima to do the same on the other side. This crowd is making it hard to watch both doors at once."

Mitsuhiko nodded and went inside to meet with Ayumi.

Mitsuhiko found Ayumi in a curtained off section of the classroom near the window. The first thing Mitsuhiko noticed was Ayumi has changed her glasses. Instead of the thin pink framed glasses she preferred normally, she wore glasses with large black frames and much larger lenses. Glasses that, along with the serious expression on Ayumi's face, never ceased to remind any of them of the boy Shinichi Kudo had once posed as.

"The victim is Shuuya Kaniguchi-sensei, this class' homeroom teacher," Ayumi said as soon as she saw Mitsuhiko. She gestured to a gallows with a pulley and cut rope hanging from it. The rope's other end was tied tightly to the main post of the gallows. "Genta-kun and I found him hanging here. Genta-kun managed to hold him up so he stopped choking while I got some students to help get him down safely. We had to cut the rope." Ayumi's serious expression faltered for a moment. "You think Miwako-san will be mad?"

"She's said before better a living victim than a perfect crime scene," Mitsuhiko assured her. "I think we'll be fine."

Mitsuhiko took in the scene for himself.

"Should I assume we are ruling out accident and suicide?" Mitsuhiko asked.

"We are." Ayumi nodded. "Pattern recognition aside, Kaniguchi-sensei had a reputation for being strict and was apparently doing regular inspections."

Mitsuhiko nodded. Neither trait lent itself to getting hurt by self-inflicted injury or pure chance. A lengthy history of encountering such incidents also meant the Detective Boys tended to assume ill intent first and foremost.

"In fact, that's how he was lured here."

Before Mitsuhiko could ask, Ayumi picked up a plastic bag with an mp3 player inside.

"Genta-kun and I found sensei partly because this was playing. We heard a girl's voice begging forgiveness. If it was out of place, then no way it wouldn't have brought him in here."

"From there, it's just getting the noose around him and pulling," Mitsuhiko finished. "With the pulleys on the rig it wouldn't necessarily need someone very strong, either."

"Which gives us a huge suspect pool," Ayumi said. "There were several students in here at the time, not to mention anyone going through the haunted house just before or at the same time sensei did."

"Maybe not as big as you think," Mitsuhiko said. "Not even serious delinquents would attack a teacher lightly, nevermind try to kill him, no matter how bad he was."

Ayumi pondered this then nodded.

"I think you're right. If it was a student, there is probably a pretty big grudge involved to get past that respect for authority." Ayumi reached into her skirt pocket, pulled out a badge, and began speaking into it.

"Ai? Genta-kun?" she said into it, continuing only after both responded. "Could you start questioning the students? Find out if anyone had a serious grudge against Kaniguchi-sensei."

Ayumi put the badge away once the other two acknowledged and turned to Mitsuhiko.

"While they take care of that, I want to get your opinion on a couple things here."

* * *

Genta and Ai started with the obvious and most easily accessible students, the two girls dressed as a murder victim and their ghost acting as ticket takers. They were currently explaining to anyone who asked why the haunted house was currently closed. At Ai's suggestion, they were saying there was an accident with one of the displays that needed to be cleaned up.

The girls, Ai and Genta were surprised to learn, were actually identical twins under the makeup, which worked quite well with their choice of costume. They were also quite happy to cooperate, since Ai's advice prevented a panic and a lot of prying questions. Those questions would come when the police arrived, but by then they wouldn't be the ones having answer them.

"A grudge against sensei?" asked Reimi, technically the younger of the twins and the one dressed as a ghost.

"Well, nobody particularly likes him," the elder twin and murder victim Reiko answered. "But someone who would want to… to… that?" She shook her head.

"What about Tsuyoi-kun, Onee-chan?" Reimi asked. Reiko hit her palm with her fist.

"Jouburou Tsuyoi-senpai?" Ai asked, recalling the literature club boy Ayumi had spoken to. The girls looked momentarily confused and whispered along themselves before answering.

"You might be thinking of his younger brother," Reimi said. "We're talking about Hayate Tsuyoi-kun. He's in our class and the haunted house was his idea."

"The class all liked it, but Kaniguchi-sensei was dead set against it," Reiko continued. "He was insisting on some educational literary thing. Tsuyoi-kun's drama club advisor, Chouno-sensei, actually managed to convince Kaniguchi-sensei to go along with the idea, since it was so popular."

"But just because Sensei agreed didn't mean he was happy about it," Reimi said, picking up from her twin. "He accused Tsuyoi-kun of going over his head, getting an outsider involved, and disrespecting his authority. That's when Sensei insisted he'd be inspecting the house regularly to make sure it was just what he approved of and nothing more."

Ai wrote down what she was told, but couldn't help thinking this all seemed like a reason for Kaniguchi to try and kill Tsuyoi rather than the reverse. On the other hand, given his membership in the drama club and how involved the designs and costumes were, the boy clearly had an artistic bent. Artists had become temperamental for less than an authority figure actively trying to interfere with them.

"Anyone else you can think of?" Genta asked. "Did Tsuyoi-senpai have a girlfriend or something?"

Genta's question got an undeniably giggly reaction from the twins. He grinned at Ai.

"There's no girlfriend," Reiko said. "But there is Yamagishi-san."

"Someone who would like to be a girlfriend?" Genta asked, raising an eyebrow and smirking. Ai understood now. They had apparently stumbled onto the class gossips.

"Oh, yeah. Her name's Hanae Yamagishi-san, and she's got it bad. It's obvious to everyone but Tsuyoi-kun. But…" Reiko leaned in conspiratorially. "She's a little… off. I mean, no girl likes hearing anything bad about the boy she likes but for Yamagishi it's like a bomb goes off, y'know?"

 _"The name hasn't really worked for years, anyway, Conan's not a member anymore-"_

 _"Now hold on-"_

Both Ai and Genta understood what the girls were suggesting. It sounded, however, like the Yamagishi girl's reaction was more extreme.

"She was furious at Sensei when he refused Tsuyoi-kun's idea," Reimi continued. "She started mouthing off to him in class, getting in trouble. It wasn't until Chouno-sensei talked to her that she stopped. Kaniguchi-sensei didn't, though."

"Because this Chouno-sensei stepped on his toes again?" Genta asked.

"Yeah," Reiko said. "They've hated each other every since she started teaching her last year."

"No idea why," Reimi said. Then she grinned. "But that just means there's tons of rumors. Jealously because she's so much cooler. Jilted lovers." The twins simultaneously gagged to show their opinion of that one. "Or even that she was an ex-student of his."

"He's old enough," Reiko interjected.

"But she's not young enough, Onee-chan," Reimi said. She turned to Genta. "Chouno-sensei is in her late thirties and divorced."

Genta took this all in.

"Anybody else come to mind?" He asked. The twins shook their heads. Genta offered the older girls a bow. Ai followed suit. "In that case, ladies, thank you for your help. If I may ask one more favor?"

The girls nodded. Genta gestured to Ai, who brought up her phone's gallery.

"Could you point out Tsuyoi-senpai, Yamagishi-senpai, and Chouno-sensei?"

* * *

"Hmm," Mitsuhiko rubbed his chin. "I don't know, Ayumi-chan. I agree the recording was unquestionably a lure, like you said. That being the case, the contents of the recording shouldn't matter. Anything would've attracted him."

"Then why not use anything? Why this… apology?"

"To keep the students from finding it first?" Mitsuhiko offered. "Unlike their teacher, they would be less likely to look for something like this if it blended in with the theme."

"Maybe, but I don't think so." Ayumi shrugged. "I just know that recording is more important than that."

Mitsuhiko said nothing and, instead, used the instant camera Ai had given him to take photos of the crime scene. Truthfully, Mitsuhiko suspected Ayumi was right in her assertion about the recording's importance. He didn't say so, however, because he knew how important it was for Ayumi to have someone to play the skeptic for her at times like this, when her deductions were based more on intuition than fact.

"Any ideas on just what the recording is, if it's not random?" Mitsuhiko asked after a few more photos were taken.

"One," Ayumi said. "I want Ai to listen to the recording, first. To make sure I'm not making something out of nothing. I think she'll recognize what I'm looking for."

Since the music player the apology was recorded on was evidence, Ayumi didn't want to risk tampering with it by playing it more than she had to. She had played the recording again only once, to record a copy onto her phone. It wasn't perfect, but it was enough for Mitsuhiko to get an idea of what she and Genta had heard.

"After that," Ayumi continued, "figuring out the culprit is going to depend on who Ai and Genta-kun find as suspects."

* * *

In Beika Middle School's parking lot, a car found its way towards an empty spot.

"Bad enough we couldn't bring any officers…" the man in the passenger seat grumbled.

"There's no helping it, Itagaki-kun," the woman driving replied. "The principal wanted to avoid a panic. If it had been anyone but Ayumi-chan and her friends who came across this we might not have heard about it until after the festival, or at all."

The young man grumbled further at the mention of the Detective Boys. She sighed. If getting married had come with one regret, it was that she and Wataru couldn't be partners in the field anymore.

 _No helping that either,_ Miwako Takagi (née Sato) thought to herself. _He'll just have to learn for himself what those kids are capable of._


	3. Hayate Tsuyoi

**_Detective Conan_**

 ** _The Haunted House of Class 2-C_**

 _Chapter Three_

By

Sgamer82

Hajime Itagaki walked through the halls of Beika Middle School alongside his partner, Miwako Takagi. Hajime was a recent transfer into the Homicide department. As such, there were things the other officers and detectives there took for granted that he had yet to acclimate to. One, or, to be more precise, four of those things were the Detective Boys. It struck Itagaki as highly irregular that the department would include elementary school children in their investigations. Then again, his partner got married and her _husband_ took the desk job. So perhaps the department as a whole was irregular.

When he asked other officers about them, he'd learned that the children had an uncanny knack for being present whenever a murder or other crime occurred. Rather than fight the inevitable, the kids had been taken under the division's collective wing and had become a combination of unofficial mascots and protégés, adding the officers' experience to the knowledge they gained from mentors like Shinichi Kudo, Heiji Hattori, and Masumi Sera.

Itagaki and Takagi made their way through the crowds. He wished they could just flash their badges and make people step aside, but that was out of their hands. When Inspector Megure had contacted the school to confirm his detectives would have the school's cooperation, he was met with an administrator pleading with him to not make a scene during the festivities. Not wanting to start a panic either, Megure agreed and hand picked Takagi to investigate.

"There they are," Takagi said. She pointed out three children in the crowd. There were two boys, who Itagaki knew from photos and description to be Genta Kojima and Mitsuhiko Tsubaraya. They wore very serious expressions on their faces as they looked ahead. Next to them was a girl with brown hair who barely came up to Tsubaraya's shoulders. She seemed more amused than anything, going by the smirk on her face. Shinichi Kudo's sister. That left the other girl, Yoshida. Itagaki saw her further ahead, taking with a student. They were too far to overhear the conversation, but both she and the boy were noticeably blushing and not quite making eye contact.

Itagaki frowned. They had more important things to deal with than some preteen RomCom. Takagi, however, had an even bigger grin than the Kudo girl.

Probably finds this adorable, he thought. She quietly approached the other three, who had yet to notice them. She knelt down and spoke right into their ears.

"What are we looking at here?" she asked. The boys jumped in shock and turned to face her. If Kudo was surprised, she didn't show it. She didn't move from her spot nor change expression as she answered Takagi's question.

"I believe that what you are seeing, Detective Miwako, is Mitsuhiko-kun and Kojima working out how best to present their 'make Ayumi-chan cry and we'll make you suffer' speeches to poor Tsuyoi-senpai over there."

"Nah," Kojima replied. "We've had that worked out for ages."

"We realized fairly quickly we were going to need to have something ready," the skinnier boy, Tsubaraya, added.

"Smart move," Takagi noted. "Does that mean you've got one ready for Ai-chan's future boyfriends, too?"

The girl's smirk sunk into a frown at that remark. Tsubaraya blushed. Kojima, however, was the one grinning now.

"A-Ai-san hasn't really mentioned anything about... about that," Tsubaraya stammered. "So I didn't think we had to worry yet."

"And I never bothered because I trust Mitsuhiko completely."

"Genta-kun!" Tsubaraya spluttered, his face going completely red. The girl's face also turned red, even as she glared daggers at the boy who towered over her. Takagi was doing her level best not to laugh at the scene. Itagaki was less successful and couldn't help chuckling. That brought the childrens' attention on him.

"Ah, yes," Takagi said. She gestured to Itagaki. "This is Detective Hajime Itagaki, my new partner."

The kids' reactions to him were not at all what Itagaki had expected. The boys gave him wary looks and moved almost in unison to put themselves between him and Ai Kudo. As for Kudo herself, while she had kept her composure when Takagi had playfully surprised them, the moment she turned to look at Itagaki her eyes widened and her face paled. She moved closer to the boys and didn't speak. Instead, he heard her taking deep, measured breaths, as if to calm herself.

Itagaki had no idea what had sparked _that_ response. He looked down at himself and saw nothing unusual. He wasn't especially imposing physically, neither taller nor more muscular than the average Japanese man. Given the autumn weather he wore his usual black overcoat. Then he remembered Takagi had insisted he take it off when they came inside and given him an odd look when he refused.

"Um... hello," Itagaki said awkwardly. "As Detective Takagi said, I'm her partner Itagaki."

He gave the kids a short bow. The boys gave an appropriately deeper bow of their own. The girl, looking calmer, nodded an acknowledgement then pointedly turned her back on him. Itagaki choked down his initial impulse to scold the girl for her disrespect toward an elder. The look Takagi gave him warned him not to push his luck.

"Miwako-san!" a girl's voice called. Itagaki turned and saw Ayumi Yoshida approaching them. Itagaki saw Yoshida's eyes glance toward him. She immediately took a conspicuous step to the side before she reached the others. Itagaki realized that sidestep just so happened to allow her to _also_ position herself directly between Kudo and himself.

"Ayumi-chan, this is Detective Itagaki, my partner." Takagi gestured in Itagaki's direction. Yoshida turned to him and gave a courteous bow.

"Good afternoon, Detective Itagaki."

Well at least one of them knows their manners, Itagaki thought as he bowed in return.

"We've just arrived," Takagi told her. "Why don't you bring us up to speed."

Yoshida nodded and did just that. Itagaki listened as she described her and Kojima locating the victim on a gallows prop, the recording that led them to him in the first place, and the basic examination of the evidence they had found. He was surprised by how concise the grade schooler was. He was even more surprised that she'd apparently had the foresight to collect the music player in an evidence bag.

"I took some photos, as well," Tsubaraya added in once Yoshida had finished. He took out several photographs that looked like they had been taken on an old instant camera. He wondered at first why kids this young would even have such a thing before he remembered having heard it was a favored tactic of Masumi Sera. After handing them over the boy took out his phone.

"I took some with my phone's blacklight, as well, but nothing apparent showed up on it."

"That's fine," Takagi replied. "Thank you for your usual thoroughness, Mitsuhiko-kun."

"You have a blacklight in your phone?" Itagaki asked the boy.

"Doesn't everyone?" a voice asked from behind Kojima.

"Ai," Yoshida said in a tone Itagaki knew to be a warning. He had heard it from his older sister plenty of times growing up. Itagaki heard a huff from Kudo but before anyone could respond further, Kojima himself spoke.

"We also questioned a few people and worked out a list of suspects."

From behind Kojima, the Kudo girl handed a notepad over to Takagi. She looked it over, nodded, then handed it to Itagaki. He looked himself and saw that they had indeed narrowed the culprit down to three individuals.

"Hayate Tsuyoi, age fourteen," Itagaki read aloud. "Member of the drama club and organizer of the haunted house. Quarreled with the victim about being allowed to have it in the first place.

"Hanae Yamagishi, age thirteen, classmate of Tsuyoi..." Itagaki cleared his throat, "...and 'has it bad' for him." Kojima snorted. Yoshida and Tsubaraya had the decency to look embarrassed. "Also quarreled with the victim in Tsuyoi's defense through acts of disrespect threatening, but stopping short of, violence.

"Ritsuko Chouno-sensei, no age stated, advisor to the drama club. Observed to share a mutual dislike for the victim and rumored to hold a grudge for reasons unknown. Argued in Tsuyoi's defense regarding the haunted house and talked down Yamagishi before she could become violent."

"All three are confirmed being inside the haunted house classroom at the same time or just before Kaniguchi-sensei entered," Yoshida said. "Tsuyoi-senpai was dressed as a vampire. Genta-kun and I actually saw him, but we couldn't say for sure how long he'd been there."

"So no way to know if he tripped his trap and ran back," Takagi said.

"Yamagishi-senpai was a Bride of Frankenstein," Kojima continued. "Me and Ayumi saw her as we were rushing to see if something was wrong. So she was closest to sensei, but..." he shrugged.

"But all that means is she was closest to the victim when you found him. It doesn't guarantee that she had anything to do with it," Itagaki finished. Kojima nodded.

"Chouno-sensei came out soon after Ayumi and Kojima went in," a girl's voice from behind Kojima added. "They hadn't found Kaniguchi-sensei yet and, as a result, hadn't contacted me to start keeping track of who came in or out. I did see her leave right before then, but I confess I didn't make any special note of the time. I can say she didn't appear particularly flustered or worked up. Just gave the girls at the door a goodbye and left."

"You didn't see her do anything unusual?" Itagaki asked.

"The only other thing she did was make a phone call," the Kudo girl replied after a moment.

"How's the victim?" Takagi asked.

"Kaniguchi-sensei was taken to the nurse's office while an ambulance was called," Tsubaraya replied. "It hasn't arrived yet, but we've been checking with the nurse while we waited. He's awake, but refuses to speak to anyone. Given that, we thought it wise to wait for you to arrive to speak to him, at least, since he didn't seem likely to speak to us."

Itagaki nodded at the boy's response before something in the wording hit him.

"'At least'... does that mean there is someone you didn't wait to speak to?"

The Tsubaraya boy paled as he realized what he had just said.

"We spoke to Tsuyoi-senpai and Yamagishi-senpai already," Yoshida responded in her friend's place.

Itagaki was still processing that detail and trying to think of a response when Takagi spoke up.

"Care to explain that?" A sternness similar to what Yoshida had directed to Kudo entered Takagi's voice as she spoke. "There shouldn't be any reason for you to interview _anybody_ before officers arrive."

"Normally that's true," Tsubaraya answered. "We had intended to wait until you arrived, then it occurred to Ai-san that at least two of our suspects were minors."

Takagi raised an eyebrow but made no move to interrupt the boy.

"Interviewing students as witnesses is one thing. Interviewing them as suspects is potentially a much thornier matter. There are laws about what you can ask them without a parent or guardian present. So we took it upon ourselves to do the interviewing first. We aren't police officers so that doesn't apply to us. Whether either of them are the culprit or not, you would get information you might need sooner than you might have otherwise."

"And in the event anything we did turned out grossly inappropriate," Itagaki heard Kudo say. "You're free to throw us to the wolves as dumb kids who overstepped our bounds without tainting any information you received."

"That... is highly irregular..." Itagaki muttered.

"It is," Takagi agreed. She took a step back and held all four children in her gaze. "I'm not ungrateful for what you've done, but I am not pleased by your trying to cheat the system this way. Our regulations exist for a reason and are not to be discarded just because they're inconvenient. Pull a stunt like this again and I'll throw you out from whatever case it happens to be at the time. Literally, if need be."

The kids flinched at the sudden turn of Takagi's voice.

"Yes, ma'am," four voices said in unison.

"Does that mean you don't want to know what we found out from it?" Itagaki heard the Kudo girl's voice say.

Takagi's eyes narrowed in her direction. Then they closed while Takagi drew in and breathed out a deep breath.

"Let's hear it," she conceded. The three children Itagaki could see clearly looked relieved as Kojima began telling them of their interview with the male student, Hayate Tsuyoi.

"The first suspect Kudo and I interviewed was Hayate Tsuyoi, drama club member and creator of the haunted house, and older brother of Ayumi-chan's would-be boyfriend..."

"Genta-kun!" Ayumi exclaimed, her face red.

* * *

 _He was a lean young man, with dark brown eyes and black hair. According to Ai, these were all traits he shared with his younger brother. The biggest difference at the moment, outside of an extra year's worth of growth spurt, was a weary, nervous expression on the older brother's face as he sat on a bench down the way from his classroom. He was also still in full vampire costume, black cape and all._

"If there weren't an attempted murder involved, a mopey vampire would've been kinda funny," Genta noted for his audience.  
 _  
Genta stepped in front of Ai and took point._

"This had less to do with Kudo's typical response to people dressed in black and more to do with the fact that this was where I excelled."

 _"Tsuyoi-senpai?" Genta asked._

"That'sf me," Hayate replied. Then, he removed his fangs. "That's me. You're the one that saved Sensei."

Genta nodded.

"I'm Genta Kojima," Genta said, then gestured to Ai. "That's Ai Kudo. We wanted to ask a few questions."

"Okay, sure," Hayate said. Then looked past Genta. "Is your friend okay?"

Ai was several steps behind Genta, her arms crossed protectively in front of her, her face turned away. Genta bowed, raised his hand in a half apologetic gesture, and grinned.

"You'll have to forgive Ai-chan, she's a real scaredy cat about horror stuff. She couldn't even make herself cross the curtain."

Genta had spoken just a little too loudly to be a conspiratorial whisper. Obviously hearing them, Ai stepped closer to them just long enough to kick the back of Genta's leg.

"It wasn't a hard kick at all, but senpai didn't need to know that."

 _"See what I mean?" Genta exaggerated a wince._

Ai let out a loud "hmph" and turned her back to the boys. Tsuyoi chuckled. The little moment seemed to help. He appeared much more relaxed to Genta the next time he spoke.

"So, what did you want to know Kojima-kun?" he asked.

"What were you doing in the haunted house? Were you doing anything besides being a vampire?"

"Mostly just keeping anyone going too far, I suppose." Tsuyoi shrugged. "Had to keep my eyes and ears open for anything Kaniguchi-sensei could use as an excuse to shut us down."

"Would he have done that?"

"In a heartbeat, if he could get away with it," Tsuyoi sighed. "Of course now he's been attacked he's got that."

"Do you think it could have been one of your classmates?" Genta asked.

Tsuyoi shook his head quickly.

"Not a chance!" he said. "Nobody likes Sensei, it's true. But none of them would actually try to hurt him. Even if they wanted to, the consequences..."

Genta nodded as Tsuyoi trailed off.

"What about Yamagishi-senpai?" Genta asked. Tsuyoi blinked.

"Hanae-san? No way."

"We heard she's been pretty... outspoken," Genta said. "Speaking without caring about the consequences."

"This project is important to her," Tsuyoi said. "She's been offering her help to me from the start. Of course she'd be passionate about keeping it going."

"Did she ever suggest anything violent?" Genta asked.

"What? No!" Tsuyoi exclaimed. Genta said nothing. After a moment the older boy sighed.

"I... I heard a classmate say she wanted to hurt Sensei, so he'd be out of the way. She never said anything to suggest it around me, however."

Genta nodded.

"What about Chouno-sensei? She left the haunted house just before we found Kaniguchi-sensei, and I hear they don't get along."

"We chatted for a while," Tsuyoi replied. "She was checking up on us. She high tailed it when she heard Kaniguchi-sensei was coming."

"So the part about them not getting along..."

"No idea why, but it's true." The older boy nodded. "Nobody's sure why. In fact, I'm not even sure Kaniguchi-sensei knows."

"All right," Genta nodded. "Thanks for your help, Senpai. We really appreciate it, right?"

He directed that last word behind him, where Ai gave a thumbs up. Tsuyoi stifled another laugh. Genta turned to leave, then stopped.

"If I could ask just one more question?" he asked. Tsuyoi nodded and Genta continued. "I noticed you call Yamagishi-senpai by her first name. Are you two...?"

Genta held out his pinky finger and grinned. Tsuyoi's face turned completely red at Genta's implication and held his hands out in front of him.

"No no no no! It's nothing like that!" he stammered. "Really! She's just really into drama, so we just have that in common, that's all. We have very similar tastes in movies and theater, too. So of course we're close." Tsuyoi tilted his head. "Is your friend okay? She's pinching her nose like she has a headache."

"I'm pretty sure that's when Kudo wrote 'oblivious' on her notepad."

 _"It's nothing," Genta said quickly. "I think everything happening today's just getting to her."_

Tsuyoi shrugged and went on.

"Really, it's not like that. I haven't even thought about..." Tsuyoi waved his own pinky finger aimlessly. "Since my girlfriend broke up with me last year."

Genta nodded somberly.

"Sorry I got the wrong idea." Genta bowed deeply to the older boy. "We'll get out of your way now. Thank you very much, Senpai."

With that, Genta and Ai left the boy in the vampire costume to his thoughts.

* * *

"He has motive," Takagi said, as much to herself as to the others. "But it didn't sound like there was much desire to act on it. He also had perhaps the least opportunity to attempt anything."

"Barring some kind of trick, at least," Tsubaraya said. "We've seen plenty of ways for someone to accomplish a murder without being physically present."

"That's true," Takagi agreed. Then she turned back to Kojima, who was currently quailing at a glare from Yoshida. "So that was Tsuyoi. What about the other student? The Yamagishi girl?"

"We actually got lucky on that one," Kojima said happily. He turned to Ai Kudo. "Kudo?"


	4. Hanae Yamagishi

**_Detective Conan_**

 ** _The Haunted House of Class 2-C_**

 _Chapter Four_

By

Sgamer82

"It turns out her and Tsuyoi-senpai's mutual love of drama wasn't just an act to get close. Because of that, I had an unexpected way in."

 _"Kudo? As in_ Yukiko _Kudo? As in Yukiko_ Fujimine _?!"_

 _Ai blinked. She had gotten a similar reaction many times since joining the Kudo family. Just that day it had happened because of Shinichi. Much more common was someone excited to meet Yusaku Kudo's daughter; especially right after a book release. Having someone become star struck because of Yukiko was actually a new experience._

 _"Yes." Ai pulled up her phone's photo gallery and found a picture she and Yukiko had taken together during a trip last year._

 _"Oh, wow!" Yamagishi's eyes were wide as she stared at the photo. "It's really her!" Ai pulled her phone away as Yamagishi made a grab for it. The middle schooler had the good grace to look sheepish. "Sorry... it's just Fujimine-san is my favorite old-time actress. I love the movies from her era."_

"It was weird to me, hearing Mama and her movies talked about that way. Then it occurred to me that she'd been retired longer than any student at this school has been alive."

 _"Would it be presumptuous to ask if you could get me an autograph?" Yamagishi asked politely._

 _Ai grinned._

 _"I'll do you one better," she told Yamagishi. "I can arrange for you to get to meet Mama."_

 _"Really?!" Yamagishi squealed._

 _"Yes."_

"And I will, so long as she doesn't turn out to be an attempted murderer."

 _"Mama loves meeting fans, and I know she'll be thrilled to meet a fan your age. But, if I may offer a word of advice..." Yamagishi nodded eagerly, them went white as Ai threw a glare her way. "If you value your immortal soul,_ do not _call her an 'old-time actress' to her face."_

 _Yamagishi nodded fearfully now. Ai dropped the glare._

 _"Now that's out of the way, Kojima and I were hoping to ask a few questions about Kaniguchi-sensei."_

 _The moment the teacher's name left Ai's mouth, the other girl's expression soured._

 _"We'd heard you weren't a fan," Ai said before she could stop herself._

 _"That obvious?"_

 _"Don't try playing poker anytime soon."_

 _"Chouno-sensei keeps telling me to work on controlling my expressions."_

 _"I don't think that's the issue." Ai grinned. "I know overcompensating when I see it. Long enough to become habit, but not long enough you've found your balance."_

 _"How did you...?" Yamagishi looked interested now._

 _"You're not the only one who's had to reinvent herself?" Ai concluded that statement with a tone that almost made it a question. Yamagishi sat on a nearby chair._

 _"I didn't really like talking to people much. I spent most of my first year of middle school with no real friends."_

 _"With the exception of Tsuyoi-senpai?"_

 _"I wish!" Yamagishi declared. "All I could do was admire him from afar while Suzuhara-san made her move."_

 _As she spoke, she pantomimed the cliche watching her beloved from behind a tree or corner._

 _"Suzuhara-san?"_

 _"Naoko Suzuhara-san," Yamagishi clarified._

 _"She became his girlfriend?"_

 _Yamagishi nodded and sighed theatrically._

 _"I wanted to hate her for it, but how could I when all she did was have more guts than me?" Her expression hardened suddenly. "Breaking up with him, though, that was another matter."_

 _"How so?"_

 _A fire entered her eyes._

 _"She broke his heart! Just up and broke it off with no warning! Hayate-kun was a wreck! Then we found out why and-"_

 _Yamagishi stopped suddenly._

 _"Why did she break up with him, Senpai?" Ai asked._

 _Yamagishi suddenly looked nervous._

 _"He... she... that is..."_

 _Ai waited. She raised a hand to stop Genta from asking his own question or try to hurry her along. She simply waited, said nothing, and let Yamagishi find her words at her own pace._

"Papa does the same thing to me all the time. Whenever I try it for myself I realize he has the patience of a saint..."

 _"Sensei broke them up," she said finally._

 _"Come again?" Ai asked._

 _"When you say 'Sensei broke them up'..." Genta urged._

 _"I mean exactly that," Yamagishi said. "Apparently their dating was 'interfering with her studies'"_

 _Ai blinked as the girl did a serviceable impression of an older man and did finger quotes on the last few words._

 _"She was already top of the class!" Yamagishi went on. The words were spilling out now what she had started. She stood from her chair and began pacing frantically. "Her grades dropped maybe a few points, at worst! But that was more than Kaniguchi was going to tolerate! He got with her parents and they all pressured her to break it off with Hayate-kun."_

 _Yamagishi clasped her hands as if in prayer._

 _"A few weeks after that, her grades apparently improved enough for her to go to some fancy school for the hoity toity. She transferred out and that was the last anyone saw of her."_

"I felt exhausted just watching her emote. There was one more question that needed asking, but I was wary of asking. Doing so would destroy any goodwill I'd earned. That's when Kojima gave his parting shot and saved me the trouble."

 _"Did Tsuyoi-senpai know about Sensei breaking them up?" Genta asked. Yamagishi blinked several times. Then her gaze shifted to the side._

 _"Wh- Why do you ask?"_

 _"Remember what I said about poker?" Ai said. The middle school girl's face turned red._

 _"Are you suggesting that Hayate-kun... that he... how could you even think-"_

 _"We don't know Tsuyoi-senpai as well as you do," Ai said gently. "It's important we know as much as we can, even... no, especially if it can prove us wrong. You're worried that your answer will make Tsuyoi-senpai look guilty?" Yamagishi nodded. Ai gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "We know the difference between looking guilty and being guilty, but being able to tell depends on us knowing the truth." Ai braced herself. "Hanae-senpai, did he know?"_

 _The girl looked at Ai and Genta, her eyes wide. Her gaze moved from grade school boy to grade school girl. Finally, her eyes rested on Ai._

 _"He knew," she said at last. "There were rumors almost immediately after the breakup. Hayate-kun confronted Sensei. The argument was so serious Hayate-kun was suspended over it. When he came back, he seemed depressed more than angry, but he was still definitely fuming about it all. There were no more heated arguments but Hayate-kun never spoke to Sensei unless spoken to, first. Even then, they were short answers. He was never outright disrespectful, but..."_

 _"...There was little respect to be had," Ai finished._

* * *

"After that, Yamagishi-senpai had little else to say other than to swear up and down that Tsuyoi-senpai was innocent all over again," Ai Kudo concluded. "We weren't going to get anything else out of her."

"Sounds like you got plenty," Itagaki said. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Takagi give him a grin.

 _All right, all right,_ Itagaki thought to himself. _Credit where it's due..._

"Do you think Yamagishi-san is a likely culprit?" Takagi asked. Kudo and Kojima both shook their heads.

"Being head over heels for Tsuyoi-senpai gives her a motive," Kojima said. "But..."

"Her ability to conceal her emotions once she gets started makes it unlikely," Kudo finished. "Were this a crime of passion, I'd place her on top of the list. Something premeditated, however?"

Kudo shook her head and glanced at Yoshida.

"That recording was planted to lure in Kaniguchi-sensei," Yoshida said. "She definitely could have made it, especially if she can do voices as well as you said."

"Also, how much of those emotional swerves could be just hiding her actual reactions?" Tsubaraya asked.

"Like a leaf in a forest?" Kojima asked. Tsubaraya nodded, and Kojima continued. "Possible, but I think Kudo has it right. She's a quiet person trying to be loud and overdoing it."

"Long enough to become habit, but not long enough that she's found her balance," Kudo said, repeating the words she had said to Yamagishi with an air of knowing what she was talking about.

"It could be both of them," Tsubaraya suggested. "He has the motive, she had the opportunity and they both had the means."

"But Hayate-senpai seemed afraid of the consequences of harming a teacher," Yoshida noted. "Maybe he didn't know what Yamagishi-senpai planned?"

"These are all good theories," Takagi said, butting into their bull session. "But before we go much further, I'd like to remind you we still have at least two more witness to speak to."

The children nodded.

"You said Kaniguchi-sensei was in the nurse's office?" Itagaki asked. Yoshida nodded.

"The ambulance is delayed, so he's being kept there under the nurse's care."

"The last we heard, he was awake, but refusing to speak to anyone," Tsubaraya said. Itagaki looked to his senior.

"How do you want to handle this?" he asked Takagi. She frowned.

"You see Kaniguchi," she said after a moment of thought. "I get the feeling he'll respond better to a man questioning him. I'll take the other one, Chouno."

"Detective Itagaki?"

Itagaki looked down to the Yoshida girl.

"May I come with you to interview Kaniguchi-sensei?"

"Why?" Itagaki asked.

"I'm concerned. The last I saw him, he'd nearly been hanged. Also, I had an idea. Well..." Yoshida looked away nervously and fiddled with her glasses. "A hunch, really. But right or wrong it might rule out a few theories..."

"I don't think that's-" Itagaki began, only to be interrupted by Kudo.

"I'll go, too," she said. "After everything I've heard, I want to see this man for myself."

"Now wait a mome-"

"I suppose that means I'll be with the boys interviewing Chouno-sensei," Takagi said. Tsubaraya and Kojima both nodded affirmatively.

"Why are you taking them-"

"Now that's been decided, let's get to it," Takagi said. She began to walk away with the two boys of the Detective Boys, only to be stopped when Itagaki finally got a full sentence out.

"Don't I get a say in this?" Itagaki asked weakly.

This was all just too irregular...


End file.
